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GM slashes earnings forecast (forsees $828 million 1st Qtr loss)
Automotive News ^ | 3/16/05 | Dale Jewett and Jason Stein

Posted on 03/16/2005 10:25:18 AM PST by BurbankKarl

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1 posted on 03/16/2005 10:25:18 AM PST by BurbankKarl
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To: BurbankKarl

Brought to you by the UAW.


2 posted on 03/16/2005 10:30:30 AM PST by wideawake (God bless our brave soldiers and their Commander in Chief)
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To: BurbankKarl
Standard & Poor's on Wednesday revised its rating outlook on GM and its finance arm to negative from stable, setting the stage for a downgrade of the world's biggest carmaker to junk status.

Might as well give the bonds the same ratings as the cars. ;)

3 posted on 03/16/2005 10:33:19 AM PST by Mr. Jeeves
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To: wideawake

Management equally guilty. Pontiac recently discontinued their number one selling car, the Grand Am. Chevy discontinued the S-10. Replaced it with the Colorado-a five cylinder. Many balk at this "new" concept. Bubba just ain't sure about a 5 cylinder...


4 posted on 03/16/2005 10:34:13 AM PST by donozark (OLD ARAB SAYING: The dog barks but the caravan moves on.)
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To: wideawake

GM's pension expenses, healthcare costs, bloated bureaucracy, and union woes have all grown too large. It's too much overhead to tack onto the price of cars in a competitive global environment.

That, plus if you try to get a price quote from a dealer for a Corvette on the Chevy.com website you get an error.

5 posted on 03/16/2005 10:34:26 AM PST by Southack (Media Bias means that Castro won't be punished for Cuban war crimes against Black Angolans in Africa)
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To: donozark
"Management equally guilty. Pontiac recently discontinued their number one selling car, the Grand Am. Chevy discontinued the S-10."

...and the Camaro is gone. That model was only selling what, some 100,000 copies a year for how many decades?!

6 posted on 03/16/2005 10:39:02 AM PST by Southack (Media Bias means that Castro won't be punished for Cuban war crimes against Black Angolans in Africa)
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To: Southack

Its not your father's Oldsmobile.


7 posted on 03/16/2005 10:39:57 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: BurbankKarl
The main reasons for this failure are not mentioned:

...lousy, overpriced cars and the UAW.

8 posted on 03/16/2005 10:42:20 AM PST by Gritty ("Once you’re talking about taking it back you’ve already lost it"-Mark Steyn)
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To: BurbankKarl

WOW G M losses ? Maybe they can re-coop by "charging" the
marine reservist for parking on the G M lot during weekend
drills. (No BUSH bumper stickers allowed though)..........


9 posted on 03/16/2005 10:43:23 AM PST by lionheart 247365
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To: Gritty

You forgot unimaginative styling, and substandard engineering.


10 posted on 03/16/2005 10:43:41 AM PST by TXBSAFH (Never underestimate the power of human stupidity--Robert Heinlein)
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To: Southack
Heartbreaking to see Camaro, Trans-Am,etc. gone from America. I am old enough to remember when Camaro had 396CID from the factory!

Now even the Oldsmobile is gone. Guess I know now how my dad felt when he lamented the demise of the Studebaker, Packard, etc.

I plan on sticking with US made pickups, but I did sneak a peek at Toyota...I feel so guilty!

11 posted on 03/16/2005 10:43:50 AM PST by donozark (OLD ARAB SAYING: The dog barks but the caravan moves on.)
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To: donozark

FYI..Ford just killed the new T-Bird..


12 posted on 03/16/2005 10:44:35 AM PST by ken5050 (The Dem party is as dead as the NHL)
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To: ken5050
Ya. They have killed it twice...$40K for a roadster/coup put it up there with Beamer. I did like the "older" T-Bird though. The first victim.

I assume Ford is keeping the Ranger? Haven't heard to the contrary.

13 posted on 03/16/2005 10:48:53 AM PST by donozark (OLD ARAB SAYING: The dog barks but the caravan moves on.)
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To: ken5050

"FYI..Ford just killed the new T-Bird.."

Don't worry, no one will notice!


14 posted on 03/16/2005 10:48:54 AM PST by CSM
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To: Gritty
"The main reasons for this failure are not mentioned: ..lousy, overpriced cars and the UAW."

GM has to pay $2Billion to Fiat and a similar amount to Mitshubitshi, where their program to expand market share globally failed (as their market share of USA cars slipped to under 40% at the expense of primarily Japanese cars). One terrific 10-year snafu, put into place (don't forget) by JACQUES NASSER.

15 posted on 03/16/2005 10:49:00 AM PST by Zuben Elgenubi
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To: wideawake

"Brought to you by the UAW."

The UAW didn't design the beautiful and popular Aztec, didn't terminate the Camaro and Firebird with no replacement.

This is an obviously poorly managed company.

Here is GM management at its best: Years ago Chrysler designed a Concept vehicle that then got built and sold--the PT Cruiser.

GM has now hired the designer of the PT Cruiser, who has almost cloned it for GM. GM will introduce this vehicle.

Nothing original. No risks. No imagination. Declining sales and profits.


16 posted on 03/16/2005 10:49:03 AM PST by truth_seeker
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To: BurbankKarl
The automaker blamed lower sales in North America and a shift in the sales mix away from high-profit trucks to lower-profit cars for the earnings falloff.

The market at work due to higher oil prices. I hope this US manufacturer has learned its lessons from the 1970 oil crisis...

17 posted on 03/16/2005 10:49:14 AM PST by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - They want to die for Islam, and we want to kill them.)
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To: wideawake

More like brought by higher gasoline prices and lower dollars (in turn partly brought by the UAW.)


18 posted on 03/16/2005 10:49:54 AM PST by Doctor Stochastic (Vegetabilisch = chaotisch is der Charakter der Modernen. - Friedrich Schlegel)
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To: ken5050

It was a stupid, overweight car and deserved to die.


19 posted on 03/16/2005 10:50:07 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: BurbankKarl; A. Pole
The automaker blamed lower sales in North America and a shift in the sales mix away from high-profit trucks to lower-profit cars for the earnings falloff.

This is no surprize. When 70% of your economy is consumer spending, and those consumers are losing jobs to outsourcing and immigration, and the lucky consumers who still have jobs are suffering pay cuts combined with tax increases, discretionary spending will decline.

Productivity is higher, and investment returns reflect that, but the investors reaping the benefits are a minority of the population of consumers. The individuals among the investor class aren't going to buy up the surplus vehicles just because they have the extra cash or the cash flow. Foreign markets in China and India haven't opened up as promised to buy up the surplus.

With declining sales, profits will decline. With declining profits, investment in the stocks will decline. With declining demand for the stocks, the stock prices will decline.

That is what happened in the late twenties, and it is happening again.

20 posted on 03/16/2005 10:50:35 AM PST by meadsjn
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